This invention relates to the field of animal husbandry. More particularly, it relates to the field involving the dispensing of hay for livestock.
In the animal husbandry field, it is common to feed hay to cows and other livestock by use of a manger or livestock feeder. The normal bale of hay weighs 3/4 of a ton to a ton. Although hay bales were formerly formed in smaller units, today it is common practice to roll the hay into large essentially cylindrical bales. These bales are then fed to cattle in order to increase the production of the cattle. The average animal will eat approximately 3% of its own weight per day, which translates to eighteen pounds of fodder a day for a six-hundred pound cow.
One problem currently encountered in the use of large round bales of hay is that the hay is rolled so tightly that the animal feeding on the hay has a difficult time securing enough loose hay to eat. Oftentimes the bales are rolled so tightly, or placed in conventional mangers in such a way, that the animal has to fight for each mouthful of hay that it is to consume. This creates the problem of the cattle spending less time eating and more time fighting the hay bale for loose hay.
It is an object of this invention to provide a unique new manger design for dispensing hay which allows the cattle to loosen the hay without struggling each time the cattle are to feed.
An average herd of animals (about 45 cattle) will consume approximately 21/2 bales of hay per week using the current manger systems. The instant device will increase that consumption to approximately 31/2 bales per week. It is another object of this invention to increase the ease of hay consumption and the amount of hay consumption for cattle.
Mangers now in use currently do not have an effective means of keeping inadvertently spilled hay dry. It is another object of this invention to provide a means for keeping loose hay from falling onto the ground. The provision for keeping the hay from the wet ground keeps the hay dry so that water is not allowed to soak into the hay. It is a still further object of this invention to keep hay waste to a minimum and to provide a container into which the hay will fall so as to preserve the edibility of such hay.
Other types of animal feeders for large round bales of hay have been known in the art. For example, the 1992 patent issued to Martin for an animal feeder describes an animal manger used in conjunction with round bales of hay. Yet another livestock feeder for cylindrical bales is found in the 1987 patent issued to Delichte. A portable livestock feeder patent was issued to Feterl in 1976. All of the above listed patents, while having certain salutary features, do not address the problems solved by the instant hay feeder. In particular, the weight of the bale of hay in all of the three previously cited devices compresses the hay so that loose hay is not available to the cattle. It is a still further object of this invention to provide a portable hay manger for large cylindrical bales of hay which provides loose hay at all times for consumption by cattle. Other and further objects of this invention will become apparent upon reading the below described Specification.